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Sitting at work, i´m planning my next and perhaps last invasion to cut off Rabaul AND Kavieng from any reinforcements from Truk.[:D]

I don´t want to invade this bases directly because of their huge garrisons, now i need an island or something near those bases for build up by myself.

Any suggestion??[:D]

Thank you![;)]

Momote and Los Negros in the Admiralties are the best bases because of their size potential (Momote size 6 AF, Los Negros size 6 Port) and the fact that one of them starts off with a size 1 airfield allowing the C-47s in. Gazmata and Hoskins can also be helpful, but Gazmata is usually fairly well held. Once you have built up one of these bases to at least size 4 you can proceed to capture Emirau (NW of Kavieng) which can be biult up to a size 4 field. I usually also try to capture Buka or Green Island as well to cut off Rabaul from the east. Momote and Emirau can interdict supply to Wewak/Madang and Kavieng/Rabual respectively. Both can be used to recon, and once large enough, to bomb Truk with PBYs, B24s and B17s. Lightening Recon planes can reach Truk from Emirau

I also find Bonis & Buka (northwest of Shortland Island) to be good airbases for medium bombers to pound Rabaul and act as staging points for further invasions around Rabaul. They both can be size 4 airfields, usually are not well held (or guarded at all) and basing recon aircraft there can give you early warnings of task forces sortie'ing from Truk.

What they said. You might also consider Gasmata and/or Hoskins, which are adjacent to each other on the S and N sides of New Ireland, respectively. Other than those three suggestions, there ain't much else to use. [:)]

Green Island is a buildable island, and is closer to Rabaul than Buka or Bonis. From there you can isolate Rabaul with LRCAP and naval attack FB missions against anything entering or leaving

I just want to add one thing to the mix. Don't discount the possibility of taking Shortland, Rabaul, Kavieng, or all three.

Against the AI, you are fighting an opponent that winds up, by early 1943, with fragments of ground units scattered all over the place (don't ask me why). A concerted plan of "isolate, reduce, and invade" can work against any Japanese base in UV (yes, including Truk). After beating down the air units, you can sweep the minefields, start blasting away with bombardment TFs (consisting exclusively of BBs), unleash all of your heavy bombers (and some medium types, if you have such bases as Bonis, Buin, and so on - the "Munda-Vila" pair can be useful, too). If no supplies are getting in (the AI makes some use of air resupply, but not very effectively) and you are throwing ordnance by the megaton at the place, eventually amphibious assault becomes possible. By concentrating your sealift, you can hit the beaches with two or three Marine divisions accompanied by supporting assets including Army infantry, additional tanks, field artillery, you name it. Most importantly, send along plenty of combat engineers to take care of those fortifications. Use shock attacks, and issue the order "attack! attack! attack." You've got to keep hitting them in order to expose their weakness from being unsupplied. Keep blasting every turn, even to dangerous levels of exhaustion in your air units and orange levels of system damage to your bombarding ships. Above all, keep thinking of how glorious it will be when those 2,700 VPs for Rabaul are both subtracted from the Japanese side and added to your total - a 5,400 point swing.

Against humans, the task can sometimes be easier. We tend to garrison thinly in order to make units available for offensive operations. Often, you can probe for a weakness and find a golden opportunity. When a Japanese opponent has overcommitted himself in his early offensives, he may find himself with a lot of destroyed units when the Allied riposte finally comes, and no way to reinforce the important bases he stripped of manpower in order to bring glory to the emperor in mid-1942.

And then, of course, you can get your @$$ thoroughly kicked, but isn't that part of the fun?

Well, thank you for your ideas!!

Nothing was invaded yesterday, but i reinforced my new base at Bonis, with the first fuel loads coming in to support MSW´s and PT Boats. Bombard Forces are ready in Lunga, with medium and heavy bombers already done some heavy damage at Rabaul Port and Airfield, with lots ot dead troops. Not much resistance from there and Kavieng, so i moved a 3-Carrier-TF up to Truk to make an attack on the last heavy ships in habour.

I smashed a Carrier TF that was coming out to meet me, with Zuikaku and Shokaku bombed to pieces without launching a single Strike[:D]

My Carriers are returning to Lunga now. I´m abondening some bases in the rear to get forces free for offensive and send them to Australia.

Too bad, i´ve Millions of Seabee-Units, but not so many Base Forces[:(]

I will finish this reorganization and change my supply convoy system, then i will see what i can do next.

Hell. I love this game[:D][&o]

Don't forget to check Brisbane for Base Forces. A lot of them show up there, and you can use them whereever you need them.

Only two left there, but with the write-off of some useless bases i will have enough base forces.

The idea of taking Rabaul is nice, so this will be my future forward main base. Hope i will get it soon[:D][:D][:D]

Don't count on "soon." It's no pushover under any circumstances. Your "softening up" needs to be as complete as possible before the troops start hitting the beaches.

I'd also recommend landing your troops on the beach south of Rabaul when the time comes - it keeps your transports away from the CD units & the minefields - you can unload as long of you want (I'd keep them under LR-CAP or Carrier air the entire time though, since you are within range of Nells & Bettys from Truk) then march to Rabaul and start the fighting.

Be a little on the careful side when estimating the size of the forces facing you. The garrison units that start at Rabaul and Kavieng are about double the normal size and are rarely moved elsewhere or broken up by the AI.

I recently captured Rabaul and was disappointed because of a game bug I reported earlier in the bug section. When the base was captured, all the damaged Japanese shipping "magically" teleported to Japan, repaired and was placed in the "available" pool. [:(] Fortunately there were only DDs and PCs present, but I missed seeing them scuttled or captured. I'll be interested to see if something similar happens to you.

Recon missions shows me that Rabaul is full of units, unfortunetly so full that the list shows no exact numbers.

I have to invade with every combat unit that i can move there and hope this is enough. WHEN this will happen i tell you the result.[:D]

I recently captured Rabual vs the AI but it took everything and the kitchen sink. I had two bombard task Forces, two CV TF, and 8-25 ship convoy with troops supplies escorts and MSW! DO NOT FORGET THE MSW!!!! the AI seeds Rabaul vey heavy!

ORIGINAL: Odin

Recon missions shows me that Rabaul is full of units, unfortunetly so full that the list shows no exact numbers.

I have to invade with every combat unit that i can move there and hope this is enough. WHEN this will happen i tell you the result.[:D]

Why risk everything on Rabaul? If you lose and all your troops die you will never get a second chance. You might as well go for Truk. If you capture Truk you've won the game because the Japanese will never get any more ships, planes, or troops. It is the same as capturing Noumea. Game over.

The US CANNOT capture Truk.... Too long of supply lines... Besides Truk almost always is loaded with troops and you have to sail by all the other IJN bases to get there

don't forget that SOPAC has 180 points worth of Aviation Support. If it's based at Noumea you don't need an extra base force there.
And No, SWPAC has no Aviation support [:(]

bye, Gecko